1. PANELS CONTINUE INTENSIVE DISCUSSIONS
All four panels continued their intensive discussions internally during the last two weeks of August. Panel chairs drafted "strawman issue papers" for review and comment by panel members. Panel 4 met in August and has a second meeting scheduled for September 20th. Panel 2 will meet September 6th, and Panel 3 will meet September 5th. Panel 1 does not plan any physical meetings at this time; all of their deliberations are being handled online. Panel chairs have continued to add additional members as various stakeholder groups have asked for representation, either on a panel or as an observer.
2. EXPERTS BEGIN WORK ON WHITE PAPERS
Eight distinguished individuals have accepted NCLIS Chairperson Martha Gould's invitation to become a member of the study's Board of Experts. Dean Emeritus Robert Hayes completed the first "white paper," which took the form of a retrospective appraisal of the NCLIS 1982 Public-Private Sector Task Force Report (which he chaired during the tenures of former NCLIS Chairperson Charles Benton and former Executive Director Toni Carbo). Christopher Burns has begun work on his paper, tentatively titled "The World Wide Library." William Price is studying the FirstGov portal under development and will evaluate its design and eventual pilot testing. Paul Zurkowski is tracing the changing role of the information industry in the forty-year 1960-2000-time span. Thomas Susman is reviewing recent Title 44 reform legislation in part for the purpose of determining whether there are any "lessons learned" that could be relevant to the study's findings and recommendations. NCLIS has suggested possible white paper topics to Edward Fox, Donald Langenberg and Raymond Nimmer, based on their particular interests and expertise, and is awaiting their reply. Eventually the Board of Experts will also be asked to review the draft reports of the four panels, and the final NCLIS reports.
3. SURVEY OF AGENCY PUBLIC INFORMATION DISSEMINATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS
Sarah Kadec is coordinating a survey of nearly three dozen federal agencies for the purpose of identifying their public information dissemination policies and programs. An initial wave of 8 e-mail messages was sent out during the last week of August. Respondents are being asked to provide copies of materials, or references to electronically available citations. The results will be of value to all four panels, but especially to Panel Two, which is dealing with internal agency needs and responsibilities. A cope of the invitation message is available on the NCLIS study web page. While time and resource constraints preclude a scientific sample of agencies and policies, an effort has been made to examine a cross-section of different kinds of agencies with very different public information dissemination policies, programs, and data (e.g. scientific, citizen entitlements, business needs for government information, and so forth).
4. GODORT ASSISTANCE FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION RESOURCES MAP
GODORT has kindly agreed to assist NCLIS in researching data needed to complete a 'public information resources map', which the Commission designed. The format, intended to help the President and Congress better understand the richness and diversity of public information resources, is accessible from the NCLIS study web page. Public review and comments are invited.
5. FLICC ASSISTANCE FOR AGENCY PUBLIC INFORMATION PROGRAM INFORMATION
FLICC has taken the initiative to assist Panel 2 in researching public information dissemination programs and products by means of a survey of its membership.
6. STUDY INTERIM BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sarah Kadec and Barbara Whiteleather are completing the Interim Study Bibliography this week and it should be available on the study web page by the second week in September. Dean Toni Carbo at the University of Pittsburgh is also updating the National Information Policy bibliography database she has, and making it available also to NCLIS in connection with study research needs.
7. STUDY WEB PAGE CONTINUES TO GROW
Dozens of documents have been added to the NCLIS study web pages and panel members, observers, and others tracking the study are urged to frequently consult the web site to review various documents and material available on web sites. In many cases NCLIS is asking for public review and comment, and feedback is very important to the study's panels and Board of Experts. The address is http://www.nclis.gov/govt/assess/assess.html.